1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an absorbent article, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard, comprising a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent body enclosed therebetween, said article having a front portion, a rear portion and a crotch portion therebetween, and further is provided with a pair of belt members in such a way that the article will assume a pantlike shape. The invention further relates to a method of producing a flexible laminate for use as belt members on an absorbent article, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard.
2. Background Art
Diapers and incontinence guards for incontinent adults usually have a garment portion holding an absorbent body in place against the user's body and attachment means which hold the garment portion in place when the user is moving. A common type of attachment means are adhesive tapes or hook and loop fasteners of the touch-and-close type which directly attach front and rear portions of the absorbent article to each other. It is further known, through e g EP-A-0 287 388, EP-A-0 409 307, EP-A-0 605 012 and FR-A-2 586 558, to attach the front and rear portions of the article by means of a belt. The belt members are usually attached to the rear portion of the diaper and are intended to be fastened together around the waist of the wearer, and fastening means provided at the front portion of the diaper are then intended to be fastened to the outside of the belt members. The belt provides improved possibilities to adjust the fit of the diaper. The belt further provides a simplified change of diaper or incontinence guard, especially when the wearer is standing.
One problem with these belts is that they may cause skin irritations to the user, because the belt is in direct contact with the skin of the wearer and has to be tightened relatively strongly in order to have a satisfactory fit and security against leakage of the diaper or incontinence guard. By the tight contact and friction between the belt and the skin there may be wear of the skin which gives rise to irritation and even skin injuries. It is therefor important that the material used to form the inside of the belt is soft and skin-friendly. Belt materials dealing with this problem are disclosed in WO 00/27330 and in WO 01/00129.
The outside of the belt can serve as a receiving surface for the fastening means provided on one of the belt members and on the front portion of the diaper or incontinence guard. For a hook-and-loop type fastening means, the outside of the belt can serve as a loop material cooperating with a hook material constituting said fastening means. A nonwoven material is from a cost point of view preferred to use as a loop material, but a substantially plane and smooth nonwoven material does not always provide the necessary shear and peel strength required to withstand the forces applied thereto during normal use of the article. A shear force is applied in a plane substantially parallel to the connected surfaces of the hook and loop elements, while a peel force is applied in a direction substantially perpendicular to the connected surfaces of the hook and loop elements.
WO 97/19665 discloses a loop fastening material in the form of a creped nonwoven layer attached to a support layer by a bonding pattern provided by heat or ultrasonic. The creping of the material is told to improve the loop function of the material. There is no disclosure of this material being used as a belt material.